Play School
'Play School '''is a British children's television series produced by the BBC aimed at preschool children. Each programme followed a broad theme and consisted of songs, stories and activities with presenters in the studio, along with a short film introduced through either the square, round or arched window in the set. Plot There were several opening sequences for ''Play School during its run, the first being "Here's a house, here's a door. Windows: 1 2 3 4. Ready to knock? Turn the lock – It's Play School." This changed in the early seventies to "A house - with a door. 1, 2, 3, 4. Ready to play? What's the day? It's..." In this version blinds opened on the windows as the numbers were spoken. Unlike earlier BBC programmes aimed at preschool children such as Watch with Mother, Play School featured real presenters who spoke directly to their audience. Play School and another BBC children's television programme Jackanory ''(both devised and developed by Joy Whitby) were sometimes recorded at BBC Birmingham or BBC Manchester when BBC Television Centre in London was busy. A section of each episode was a filmed excursion into the outside world taken through one of three windows: the young viewers were invited to guess whether the round, square, or arched window would be chosen that day, usually by means of the phrase, "...Have a look – through the....(whichever) window." A triangular window was added in 1983. Very often the film would be of a factory producing something such as chocolate biscuits, or of a domestic industry such as refuse collection, but a number of subject matters were covered, such as watching animals or fish, boats on a lake, children in a playground or at school, a family going tenpin bowling, people in a cafe and visiting a jumble sale, among other things. At the beginning of the 1983 revamp, the windows were now referred to as "shapes" as in "'let's have a look through one of the shapes..." After the shapes being moved to a spinning disc, the programme went back to using windows which resembled those used in the late 70s, albeit with the addition of the triangular window. Whenever they were shown now, only the window that the show was using for the day would be the one that would be used on the set. Each episode would also include a short story read from a book, introduced by checking the time on a clock. Normally the clock would show either an hour or a half hour and the young viewers were asked, "Can you tell what time the clock says today? Well, the long hand is pointing straight up, so that means it's something o'clock – and the short hand is pointing to the number...two (or whatever). So today, the clock says, two...o'...clock" (the latter phrase always delivered very slowly). This was followed by, "But what's underneath the clock?", and viewers would then see a turntable under the clock featuring certain items such as toy animals or clocks, which were, in a clever twist, always a clue to the forthcoming story. This was all accompanied by a slightly eerie, yet undeniably catchy, clock-like tune. (On one occasion, the item under the clock turned out to be none other than Little Ted, so the presenter concerned said, "What a very odd place for a toy to be!" and the story appropriately turned out to be about odd things). Most of the programmes were studio-based, but there were a number of educational field trips at a variety of locations, such as zoos, seasides, central London, churches, schools and farms. History on CBeebies The show launched with the Sky+ and Telewest CBeebies service when it launched on 26 September, 2001. It was one of the many to be carried from CBBC on Choice. It was first placed on the "Children's Favourites" portion, and then eventually got settled into its own label. It launched with the non-cable network on 11 February, 2002. The show left CBeebies on 27 September, 2004. Along with a few other CBBC on Choice shows. In 2014, CBeebies on YouTube uploaded 2 nostalgia clips of this programme. A reboot is set for 2020. Trivia * Sidney Sloane's parents, Jennifer and Keith Sloane, presented the series in 1969. * Humpty appeared with former presenters Floella Benjamin, Derek Griffiths, and Iain Lachlan (devisor of Tweenies) in CBeebies Christmas Carol. * A reboot will air on CBeebies and BBC Two in 2020. * Since ''Playschool has been successful in appealing to viewers under age 3, CBeebies has launched The Baby Club. Connections * Keith and Jennifer Sloane presented the series from 1969 to 1972. * Floella Benjamin presented the series in the 1980s. * Derek Griffiths presented the series. * Iain Lachlan presented the series. See Also * Show Me, Show Me * Playdays * Tikkabilla Category:Shows Category:CBeebies Category:CBeebies Topics Category:2002 Category:2003 Category:2004 Category:2014 Category:School Category:CBBC-orientated Category:Australia Category:New Zealand Category:2020 Category:Upcoming